Semiconductor memories are used in computers, servers, handheld devices such as cell phones etc., printers, and many further electronic devices and applications. A semiconductor memory comprises a plurality of memory cells in a memory array, each memory cell storing at least a bit of information. Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAMs) are an example of such semiconductor memories. The present invention is preferably embodied with DRAMs. As a consequence, the following description is done with reference to a DRAM as a non limiting example.
A sense amplifier is used to address a plurality of memory cells via a line, a so-called bit line. The conventional sense amplifier is more specifically a differential amplifier operating with a bit line and a complementary bit line which is used as a reference line, to detect and amplify the difference in voltage on the pair of bit lines.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional sense amplifier circuit comprises eleven transistors T21, T22, T31, T32, T10, T40, T50, T61, T62, T72, T71 fabricated in bulk silicon CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology.
A sense amplifier is used for sensing and writing-back data stored in memory cells, as well as reading the data and writing new data into the cells. A memory cell C is addressed by a word line WL that controls the gate of a cell access transistor Mc, the cell access transistor Mc connecting the cell C to a bit line BL. For reasons of simplicity, only one word line WL and one memory cell C are shown from the cell array on the left hand side of the sense amplifier.
A conventional sense amplifier generally comprises:                a first CMOS inverter having an output connected to the bit line BL and an input connected to the complementary bit line /BL, and        a second CMOS inverter having an output connected to the complementary bit line /BL and an input connected to the bit line BL.Each CMOS inverter comprises:        a pull-up transistor T21, T22 having a drain and a source, and        a pull-down transistor T31, T32 having a drain and a source,with the pull-up transistor T21, T22 and the pull-down transistor T31, T32 of each CMOS inverter having a common drain.        
The sources of the pull-down transistors T31, T32 are connected to a foot switch transistor T40, which is itself connected to a pull-down voltage source providing a low supply voltage VLsupply usually at a low voltage level VBLL referred to as ground GND, and controlled by a foot switch control signal φNSW. The ground level of the low supply voltage VLsupply, is used as a reference for the other voltage levels in the sense amplifier. In the circuit illustrated by FIG. 1, the foot switch transistor T40 is an N-MOS (N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor) transistor. When the foot switch control signal φNSW is high, the foot switch transistor T40 is conducting, and the ground voltage is transmitted to the common source node of the pull-down transistors T31, T32. When the foot switch control signal φNSW is low, the foot switch transistor T40 is blocked and the common source node of the pull-down transistors T31, T32 is not pulled down.
The sources of the pull-up transistors T21, T22 are connected to a head switch transistor T10, which is itself connected to a pull-up voltage source providing a high supply voltage VHsupply usually at a high voltage level VBLH such as VDD, and controlled by a head switch control signal φPSW. In the circuit illustrated by FIG. 1, the head switch transistor T10 is a P-MOS transistor. When the head switch control signal φPSW is low, the head switch transistor T10 is conducting and the high supply voltage VHsupply is transmitted to the sources of the pull-up transistors T21, T22. When the control signal φPSW is high, the head switch transistor T10 is blocked and the common source node of the pull-up transistors T21, T22 is not pulled up, i.e., the voltage of the common source node of the pull-up transistors T21, T22 is floating.
When both head and foot switch transistors T10 and T40 are turned off, i.e., the head switch control signal φPSW is high and the foot switch control signal φNSW is low, all nodes in the sense amplifier are floating.
The sense amplifier further comprises a pair of dedicated precharge transistors T61, T62 respectively coupled to the bit line BL and to the complementary bit line /BL and arranged to precharge the bit lines BL, /BL to a precharge voltage VPCH, usually at the mean value between the high supply voltage VHsupply and the low supply voltage VLsupply. This mean value is usually half the high supply voltage VHsupply high value, i.e., VBLH/2, since the low voltage level GND of the low supply voltage VLsupply is used as a reference for the other voltages and the high supply voltage VHsupply and low supply voltage VLsupply are usually then at their high and low voltage level, respectively. A precharge control signal φPCH is applied to the gates of the precharge transistors T61, T62.
The sense amplifier further comprises an equalization transistor T50 having its source/drain terminals respectively coupled to one of bit lines BL, /BL and having its gate controlled by an equalization control signal φEQL. The equalization transistor T50 of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 1 is an N-MOS type transistor.
The sense amplifier further comprises two dedicated pass-gate transistors T71, T72, the gates of which are controlled by a decoding control signal YDEC. Each of the pass-gate transistors T71, T72 connects one of the bit lines BL, /BL to a global bit line IO, /IO, also called in-out line. The pass-gate transistors T71, T72 are used to transfer data between the bit lines BL, /BL and the global bit lines IO, /IO.
Although sense amplifiers are technically necessary, from an economical point of view the sense amplifiers can be considered as service circuits of the memory array and therefore as overhead that increases the area of the entire circuit and thus also its cost of fabrication.
Therefore, continuous efforts are made to minimize the area consumption of such sense amplifiers. The present invention now provides one solution to this problem.